Shahid Afridi

Name : Sahizada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi.

Nick name : Boom Boom Afridi.

Date of Birth : 1 March, 1980.

Place of Birth : Pakistan.

Batting Style : Right Handed Batsman.

Bowling Style : Right Arm Medium, Leg break & Googly.

Role : Middle order batsman & part time bowler. ODI Debut : against Kenya at Nairobi in 1996.

TEST Debut : against Australia at Karachi in 1998..

Playing Teams : Pakistan and Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad).

ONE DAY INTERNATIONAL CAREER::

Batting::

Matches : 260(As on June 2008)

Runs : 5445

Best : 109 vs. India at Toronto in 1998.

Strike Rate : 109.67

Average : 23.74

100’s : 4

50’s : 29.

Bowling::

Matches : 260

Wickets : 232

Best figures : 5/11.

Economy : 4.61run’s per over.

Average : 34.64

Catches : 91.

TEST CAREER::

Batting::

Matches : 26(As on April 2008).

Runs : 1683.

Best : 156 vs. India at Faisalabad in 2006.

Strike Rate : 86.62.

Average : 37.40

100’s : 5.

50’s : 8.

Bowling::

Matches : 26.

Wickets : 47

Best figures : 5/52.

Economy : 4.12run’s per over.

Average : 34.89

Catches : 10

5/10 wickets : 1/0.

Afridi’s personal information::

Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (born on March 1, 1980 in Khyber Agency to Pashtun parents of the Afridi tribe in Kohat) popularly knew as Shahid Afridi or his nickname Boom Boom Afridi. In a recent survey Afridi was named as the most popular cricketer in Pakistan. He married to Nadia and they have 2 daughters “Aqsa” and “Ansha”. Afridi who is popularly known for his aggressive batting style and currently hold highest strike rate in the history of international cricket. Actually he bats in his own way whether team may be in any position in the match. Afridi bats in aggressive manner, so he has earned him nickname “Boom Boom Afridi”. He holds many records under his belt. He is not a dependable or technical batsman, so that team or his management should depend on his batting. He knows his own style to play for his country, but whenever he clicks and bats for at least 15 to 20 overs then the match is almost 90% gone from opposition’s. The way he bats is very different from other players in Pakistan, the management think that even if he stays for only 15 to 20 overs then they can get match in their hands. He has an approach to batting that can change the tempo of a game and in spire the mood of the audience. He hits many six’s long and high favoring straight down the ground or over mid wicket.

Bowling wise, his stock ball is the leg break but his armory also includes the conventional off break and quicker one which he can deliver at nearly 80mph in the style of a medium pacer. He bowls at a high speed for a spinner, resulting in lesser turn, and relying more on variations in speed. He occasionally sends down a bouncer to a batsman, which very rate for a spin bowler.

Starting from his Career::

Afridi made his ODI debut on October 2, 1996 against Kenya in Nairobi. His age was almost of 16years when he was brought into the team. He was picked into the team in the absence of Mustaq Ahmed who was genuine Leg spinner for Pakistan. Actually he was included in Pakistan team because of his bowling skills, but then he gained as a pinch hitter and began to open for Pakistan. In his second match and first ODI innings he opened for Pakistan and scored fastest century in ODI’s (of 37balls), his extremely aggressive batting style has earned him over 5000 ODI runs as well as taking over 200 ODI wickets.

It is perceived that his batting that his batting struggles on bouncy pitches and against opponents like Australia although his record against the Australians has improved over time. Though he has had success as an opener on sub continent pitches, Afridi was more consistent with his batting and bowling through out 2005, starting from the tours of India and West Indies and into the England.

In the 2007 world Twenty20, Afridi performed poorly, where people were expecting much from him, but he disappointed everyone with his bat, but done brilliantly with the ball through out the tournament to earn him the “Man the Series” award.

Coming on to his Test cricket, Afridi made his Test Debut on October 22, 1998 against Australia at Karachi. The aggressive batting of his attitude has been transferred to Test cricket as well, with Afridi scoring at a relatively high strike of 86.13 in Tests. He shares with Brain Lara the record for the third fastest century in ODI’s (of 45 balls). For many reasons, because of his batting technique Afridi has limited opportunity in Test matches, but whenever he plays with India he does well either with bat (or) bowl.

Afridi in Indian premier League(IPL)::

Afridi who is better known for his aggressive batting style was picked for the Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad) under Lax man’s captaincy. As he holds the scoring of fastest ODI century and half century, People were expecting very high performance from him. He could not perform so well in IPL. He could able to score only 32 runs in his first 6 matches he played and playing only 29 balls. He best was 20 among that; he could not do well with bat as well as ball. He was dropped for 2 to 3 matches in IPL, but again he was picked, although his performance was very bad because of aggressive batting, but his form continued through out the series his team went on losing match by match.

Afridi’s Stats in IPL::

Matches : 10

Runs : 81

Top score : 33

Strike Rate : 176.09

Average (Bat ): 10.13

Wickets : 9

Best figures : 3/28

Economy : 7.53run’s per over.

Average :25.34.

Some Achievements and records of Afridi::

~ Afridi holds the record of scoring fastest one day century of 37 balls against Sri Lanka at the age of 16years and 217days n his maiden International innings.

~ Afridi holds the joint record with Brian Lara for the third fastest ODI century off 45 balls.

~ He is first player to score 12 runs off one ball, by hitting the roof of the Millennium stadium; this took place in a game of power cricket.

~ Afridi made 32 runs off Malinga Bandara of Sri Lanka in one over and it was the 2^nd most expensive over in ODI history.

~ Afridi is the only third player in ODI history to achieve the combination of 5000 runs and 200 wickets besides Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) and Jacques Kallis (South Africa).

~ Afridi hold the record of scoring fastest ODI fifty (off 18 balls) besides Sanath Jayasuriya (of 17 balls).

~ Afridi has 5 Test centuries against India (3) & West Indies (2) and 4 ODI centuries against India (2), Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

~ He also holds the record of hitting most number of sixes in ODI history(229 six’s ) besides Sanath Jayasuriya.